Haiti's New Government : Con-men out for your money

Gerard LaTortue may be de facto Prime Minister but his own legitimacy remains an issue in the continuing Haitian crisis. He may well have contributed to further isolating Haiti at a time when it needs more than ever the support of the Caribbean Community family to which it belongs and officially embraced as a member in 1998.

The dramatic development of the announced suspension came Monday as the ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide-forced out of office on February 29 by the USA and France-arrived in Jamaica with his Haitian-American wife, Mildred, for a private ten-week stay before moving on to a yet determined new destination. It could be South Africa.

In Port-au-Prince the 69-year-old LaTortue, installed by a US-backed advisory council as interim Prime Minister, after he was sworn in by interim President Bonafice Alexandre-himself yet to be endorsed by a non-functioning parliament-evidently was pushed into making his surprise announcement of Haiti's suspension in Caricom relations by the George Bush administration.

Do not be surprised if there should come a quick, firm denial of any official Washington involvement in LaTortue's announced decision, even as America continues to dismiss as false its involvement in ousting Aristide from power.

It is, nevertheless, advisable to recall the various hints and veiled warnings that kept coming from officials of the Bush administration, including diplomatic personnel in Jamaica and Haiti and also National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, about it being a "bad" or "risky" idea for Jamaica to host the Aristides, even for a temporary period.

Had the situation for Haiti not been so tragic, LaTortue's announcement that he had decided to "put to sleep" Haiti's diplomatic and other relations with Caricom would be greeted with hilarity.

Except that this is not a time for laughter but to weep, as the chronically poor people of Haiti, existing in the most wretched circumstances in the entire Western Hemisphere, continue to risk their lives to find shelter in the "land of the free and home of the brave" that prefers Cuban asylum-seekers to Haitian refugees.

Debarred from turning up on America's shores as refugees, Haitians, whether for or against a government under Aristide, are now faced with the military presence of US, French and Canadian troops as an interim administration in Port-au-Prince which is not recognised by Caricom, suspends relations with Caricom.

Legal opinion, as considered up to Monday in preparation for Caricom's 15th Inter-Sessional Meeting next week in St Kitts, was that the Community is under no obligation to extend diplomatic relations to what currently exists as a "government" in Port-au-Prince.

But the Caricom leaders, constituting the highest organ of the Community, had decided at their emergency summit in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 11 to defer making a decision on Haiti's membership status until they meet for their 15th Inter-Sessional Meeting next week.

Agonising over the desire for continuing solidarity with the people of Haiti and the dangerous precedent created by the reported forced removal from office of Aristide, the Caricom heads of government wanted to assess unfolding developments in post-Aristide Haiti in finally determining that country's status as a Community member.

Now interim Prime Minister LaTortue has swiftly taken them off the hook, so to speak, by announcing a freeze in Haiti's relations with Caricom as an expression of official anger (more in Washington than Port-au-Prince?) over the temporary hosting of Aristide by Jamaica.

Incidentally, it is relevant to note that Jamaica's decision to host Aristide and his wife for eight to ten weeks, along with their two children, was done with the full knowledge and concurrence of Caricom.

Further, the USA, Canada and France, all three of which were originally involved in the Caricom "Action Plan" for a resolution to the crisis in Haiti-before the removal from power of Aristide-had also been informed of the decision to have the Aristides in Jamaica.

LaTortue knew all about that when he contacted Caricom's current chairman, Prime Minister PJ Patterson of Jamaica, and discussed his possible visit to Kingston for talks ahead of the forthcoming Inter-Sessional Meeting of Community leaders in St Kitts.

That proposed visit by LaTortue to Jamaica, as I have gathered, was agreed to with the understanding that it should not be confused as "recognition" of the interim regime in Port-au-Prince, and without prejudice to Caricom's coming decision on Haiti's status as a member of the Community.

As the controversies rage over the ousting of Aristide and his presence in Jamaica, some 130 miles away from Haiti, LaTortue will come to realise that having done a political hatchet job on Caricom on behalf of his sponsor, Uncle Sam, he may not even be around to function as Prime Minister of a new and legitimate government in Port-au-Prince.

For their part, Caricom leaders have to maintain the distinction between the circumstances of Aristide's fall from power and what practical forms of support the Community may yet be able to offer Haiti once re-admitted to membership.

Since it is now of academic interest, in view of LaTortue's announcement, whether Haiti should remain a Caricom member, the issue for next week's Inter-Sessional Meeting in St Kitts is the circumstances, or conditions under which a legitimate government of Haiti could negotiate that country's re-admission to Caricom.

From what I know, Haiti under a newly elected government should have no problems in seeking re-admission to Caricom.

For the present, Caricom would most likely press ahead with plans that were under consideration before Monday's announcement of suspension of Haiti's membership, to widen a coalition of countries interested in an independent international probe to determine whether Aristide voluntarily resigned or, as widely believed, was forced out of power.

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